Revelation 17:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Revelation 17:8
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Revelation 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall…
Revelation 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to t…
Revelation 9:1-2 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Revelation 19:15-21 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treade…
Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation…
John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for…
Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 17:7-13
Here we have the mystery of this vision explained. The apostle wonders at the sight of this woman: the angel undertakes to open this vision to him, it being the key of the former visions; and he tells the apostle what was meant by the beast on which the woman sat; but it is so explained as still to need further explanation. 1. This beast was, and is not, and yet is; that is, it was a seat of idolatry and persecution; and is not, that is, not in the ancient form, which was pagan; and yet it is, it is truly the seat of idolatry and tyranny, though of another sort and form. It ascends out of the bottomless pit (idolatry and cruelty are the issue and product of hell), and it shall return thither…
beast . . . was, and is not--(Compare Rev 17:11). The time when the beast "is not" is the time during which it has "the deadly wound"; the time of the seventh head becoming Christian externally, when its beast-like character was put into suspension temporarily. The healing of its wound answers to its ascending out of the bottomless pit. The beast, or Antichristian world power, returns worse than ever, with satanic powers from hell (Rev 11:7), not merely from the sea of convulsed nations (Rev 13:1). Christian civilization gives the beast only a temporary wound, whence the deadly wound is always mentioned in connection with its being healed up the non-existence of the beast in connection with…
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition - The beast is the Latin kingdom; (Ἡ Λατινη βασιλεια); consequently the beast was, that is, was in existence previously to the time of St. John; (for Latinus was the first king of the Latins, and Numitor the last); is not now, because the Latin nation has ceased long ago to be an independent power, and is now under the dominion of the Romans; but shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, that is, the Latin kingdom, the antichristian power, or that which ascendeth out of the abyss or bottomless pit, is yet in futurity. But it is added: -
And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder,…
The Church Fathers
On account of the false miracles, those whose names are not written in the book of those who live forever and who have not been sufficiently taught in the prophecies of Christ concerning him will be astonished at his coming and wonder how he had regained his ancient power.
The holy Scriptures teach that from the beginning of the world there has been the rise and the advance to the present time of two cities. Of these, one is of God and the other is of the devil, and in this passage [the city of the devil] is indicated by the beast as [representing] altogether the whole body of the wicked. And so it says that it was and is not, because in the passing away of generations that succeed one another, it is built up and supplemented. And, therefore, it follows that it is going to ascend from the abyss as well as go to destruction. For by the hidden yet just judgment of God, it is brought to its end, so that the psalm says, "Your judgments are like the great deep." Or it claims that [the beast] will come forth from the hearts of the impious, of which the psalm speaks, "The deep calls forth the deep."
We understand this to mean that an evil people is born out of an evil people. And so we can say the beast comes out of the beast and the abyss out of the abyss. And what does it mean that the beast comes out of the beast, unless an evil people is born out of an evil people? This is so because wicked children copy and replace their wicked parents, and while some are dying, others succeed to them. Therefore, those who from the beginning have always plotted against the church are never lacking, whether they be few or many, whether they be hidden or manifest. And although in this world we can never be separated from having some contact with them, let us beseech the mercy of God, that we might be so separated in our conduct that we do not go with them to an eternal punishment. Rather, when they hear, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire," may we be worthy to hear, "Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Antichrist — Against Christ, or an opposition Christ, a rival Christ. The word is used only by the apostle John. Referring to false teachers, he says (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7), “Even now are there many…
Book · OF LIFE — OF LIFE
Horn · SYMBOLI — SYMBOLI
Pit · .The bottomless pit — .The bottomless pit
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
G2076
he (she or it) is
and
μέλλειmellei
G3195
to intend · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
shall
ἀναβαίνεινanabainein
G305
to go up (literally or figuratively) · verb — present active infinitive
ascend
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
of
ΤὸTo
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — nominative singular neuter
pit
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
and
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
go
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
into
ἀπώλειανapōleian
G684
ruin or loss (physical · noun — accusative singular feminine
perdition
ὑπάγει.hupagei
G5217
to lead (oneself) under · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
and
θαυμασθήσονταιthaumasthēsontai
G2296
to wonder · verb — future passive indicative, 3rd person plural
that
κατοικοῦντεςkatoikountes
G2730
to house permanently · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
dwell
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
on
τῆςtēs
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — genitive singular feminine
The beast which thou sawest was, and is not,.... It is added at the end of the verse where the same description is given, "and yet is"; this beast is to be understood not of the devil, who "was" the god of this world, "is not", being cast out by Christ, and yet is in being; for he, the dragon, is distinguished from this beast, and indeed from him the beast has his seat, power, and authority, Revelation 13:1 nor any particular emperor, as Domitian, a cruel and savage one, who was in power in Vespasian's time, when he was abroad, and then was out of it upon his return, and yet afterwards was in again, being as one sent from hell, and went at last into perdition; but the Roman empire itself is…
The destruction within this vision contrasts with the destiny of the people of God in the new heaven and earth (see 21:1-4).
17:8 The beast . . . was once alive but isn’t now . . . will soon come up: When Domitian became emperor (AD 81–96), he was as evil as Nero (both were fierce persecutors of the church), and many thought he was the embodiment of Nero’s spirit, if not Nero himself (perhaps similar to the way that John the Baptist was considered to embody Elijah’s spirit; see Mal 4:5; Matt 11:14; Luke 1:17; John 1:21). • you saw: The past tense indicates that the angel’s interpretation took place after John’s vision. • was once alive but isn’t now: This contrasts with God, “who is, who al…
